~MYA~When the whole family went out to get Chinese food, Mya decided to stay behind. Everyone looked as if they wished she would come, but Mya had some things that she needed to take care of. She crept into her father’s office to find the paperwork that her twin mentioned seeing. Surprisingly they were still there, in the second drawer down of his cherry wooden desk. They lay inside a yellow envelope; adoption papers, birth certificates, everything. How was she supposed to track down her mother? All she had was a name. Olivia Dawson. She let out a long sigh and then just decided to do an online background check. At least she could see what type of woman her mother was. ~BROOKE AND SANDINO~“You know what I really want?” Brooke asked, eyes big and bright as if she had thought of the most amazing idea. Her voice even went up an octave or so as she spoke with excitement. She had spent most of the day sleeping. Sandino had no doubt in his mind that when she finally awoke, she’d be hungr
~CARLY~“So what are you doing here?” Ms. Blake asked as she and Carly sat on the living room couch. This house smelled a lot like James, which made Carly’s heart drop when she first walked in. She had been fighting back tears for the past few days; it was a surprise to her that she hadn’t broken down yet. She was holding it together quite nicely. “I just… I wanted to see how you were,” Carly lied. Ms. Blake stared at her. She had looked sad at first, but now, you could see anger flare in her eyes. The question may have been a stupid one. “My son is dead; how do you think I am?” Carly looked away. Worse than me, Carly said to herself. “I’m sorry that you lost your son. That is something that I never wanted.” Ms. Blake stood up and headed into the small kitchen, only a few feet away from the living room couch. She grabbed a bag of mixed vegetables out of the freezer, opening them and pouring them into a pot. Carly watched. “No one wishes death upon anyone. At least I don’t and you
~DAMON~Damon’s flight to New York was not as easy as he hoped it would be. His flight was late once and another was canceled. He got to the city of New York much later than he thought he would, but now that he was there, he couldn’t rest. Though he was beyond tired, somewhere in this city were answers that Kahlan had been searching for. Damon Meir now found himself staring at a motel door. Once he landed, he went straight to the bank and requested information on the woman who had set up the account. It took some convincing, but the teller he spoke with listened to his story. He left out most of the gruesome parts; in the end it became a simple story. A young girl was separated from her mother. This was the last lead they had on finding her. The teller fell for it. The man gave Damon a name, just a name. He was afraid of losing his job if the information was to somehow lead back to him. Olivia Dawson. He hopped from one known address to another. He had done so much research in the pas
~KAHLAN AND JUSTIN~I was ready for school in no time. Breakfast was light. I didn’t put on makeup and I had my wavy brown hair up in a bun. Justin dressed in the same dark blue jeans and white T-shirt he had yesterday. He suffered severely from bed head, his mix of light and dark brown hair sticking up in odd places.“Do you want to just ride with me?” I asked Justin as I locked the door to my town home, my back facing him. He stood tall at the edge of the porch, breathing in the morning air. He chuckled.“And wear the same clothes that I had on yesterday?” I faced him, understanding what he was saying. The people we hung out with liked to gossip or make nothing into something.“I’ll swing by your place. I don’t really want to
~DAMON AND KATE~Kate quickly sat down after hearing about the death of her ex husband, after hearing about the murders her daughter witnessed, after knowing that her daughter had been raped and moved away from everything she knew. She seemed to have lost her balance mid conversation and now sat on the edge of the flat, yet perfectly made bed. It was a lot to take in, Damon knew that. Kate’s face dropped heavily, a large frown showing. She used her hands to cup her face, her tears landing on the ridge of her thumbs. Damon didn’t understand.“Did you not keep tabs on your daughter after you ran off?” he asked. She stared at him angrily, her body stiff.“I didn’t run off,” she answered quietly, “I was protecting my family.” Now he was lost.
~ASHLEY AND JUSTIN~Ashley literally had to stalk Justin in order to get him alone. Lately he and Kahlan were inseparable, and it became harder and harder for her to try and get time with him, that didn’t involve her showing up at his house unexpectedly. There were two minutes left of the passing period and an opportunity presented itself. Ashley was quick to run to Justin’s side.“Where are you heading?” Ashley asked Justin. He looked.“Class,” he murmured. Of course, that was a dumb question. He was doing what she was supposed to be doing.“Hey, do you think you and I could hang out at lunch today?” He didn’t bother to look at her as they spoke.“I’m suppos
~THE HANCOCKS~“Hey girls, how was school?” Paul asked as his kids made their way into the house. He sat at the dining room table with a book opened up in front of him and his glasses sitting firmly on his dark round face. He gave a smile as Amy made a point to come to the doorway of the dining room, a smile on her face as she went to answer his question.“It was fine,” Amy answered, gripping the thick straps of her pink Hello Kitty backpack. She had been having the same backpack for a few years now and refused to give it up. Though she was sixteen going on grown, he could still see that she was a kid at heart. Paul then stared behind Amy, trying to get a good glance at Mya. She stared back at him for only a few seconds and then without another word she went running upstairs to lock herself away from the world. “Don’t worry about it da
~ROBERT AND KATE~“You called for me?” Kate asked, sticking her small round head into the cockpit. Robert had signaled her in and sent everyone else on a break. They had arrived at their destination earlier than expected and had plenty of time to kill. She had a seat beside him, wondering what could be wrong.“Olivia, how long have we known each other?”“Almost a year,” she answered with a soft smile appearing on her face. This was obviously a personal visit.“And how many times have we slept together? Made love?” She leaned forward, eyes fixated on Robert Wood’s face.“Where are you going with this?” she asked, blushing. .
~ELLA~ Ella rushed up to one of the cops on the scene. The waiting around was killing her. The cops had begun to clear out one part of the building. There was an automotive class-taking place, and their escape was out the garages of the North side of the building. Officers were planning on storming through there. That was the last that she had heard of their plans. There were two students hurt, but at least ten evacuated. That gave some hope. There were no fatalities. Ella wanted to help."I'm an off duty nurse," she stated, "I'm here to offer any assistance." The cop looked at her."Do you have your badge?" She pulled out her nursing badge and let the cop examine it. At least he was being thorough."Go on over to the par
~JUSTIN, EMETT AND MYA~ Mya snuck the guys into one of the pool exits. It threw them off course just a bit to get the front office, but as long as they got inside, Justin didn’t care. He would find a way to Kahlan."How did you know this would be open?" Justin asked quietly. He wasn’t comfortable with Mya leading them. As men, they should be protecting her. She should be behind them."They cut the electricity off," she whispered back, "That means that the doors that were usually on manual locks, would open." Justin never paid attention to things like that, so he was glad that Mya did, otherwise, they may have still been outside, trying to find a way in, or they would have given up."How did you know there were
~KAHLAN AND BROOKE~ "It’s been five minutes!" Brooke shouted at me as quiet as she could when I returned to her side. She had gotten loud as if she was angry, but she was scared. She was sweating bullets, her face looking as if she had gotten caught in the rain."I know, I'm sorry," I said, "Did anyone text back?" She shook her head. "Damn it." Brooke looked at me. She wanted so badly for me to have good news for her, but I didn’t."What are we going to do?" she asked as she placed a hand over her belly. I stared down at her stomach. It was more than out lives at stake, it was the life of this unborn child. I couldn't give her an answer; so instead, I looked around, trying to come up with our next move.
~AMY, CHAD AND JASON~Jason looked, asking himself the same question. What was his problem? The fact that his friend and girlfriend lied to him… yep, that was it."I don't have a problem," Jason answered softly."Well you sure do stomp around like you do," Chad said."I'm upset," Jason replied. "I don't know how I should feel, but I know I don't hate you. Most of me misses you guys, but there is still a part of me that can't get over the fact that you two lied. And when I think about it, I can see you guys in my head, and it just makes me sick to my stomach.""Let us help you get over it," Amy said getting to her feet, "trying to avoid us and staying mad at us obviously isn't helping." Jason looke
~JUSTIN~ Everyone got to their knees outside, at the sound of another gunshot. The group was pushed back further from the school as more people escaped. Now officers had arrived on the scene. They had begun pushing everyone back across the parking lot, closer to the street and the surrounding homes. Justin couldn’t just stand around and do nothing. He was not the type to feel powerless."I have to get in there," he demanded, pushing past Carly. He didn’t even get a few feet, before he was thrown to the ground. He landed on his left knee pretty hard, feeling the pain of the pavement. He looked up and saw Coach Myers on top of him."Where do you think your going boy?" the coach growled."I ha
~KAHLAN AND CARLY~“So you have a date tonight?” Carly asked as we made our way to the front of the school. I glanced over at her as we walked down the hall. I had to stop by my locker to drop off my textbooks. We agreed that to car pool for a while. It saved time and gas money.“Its not a date.” “Yeah, but you want it to be.” She grinned. I looked over at her. It seemed that Carly might have knew more than I did. Justin and I had discussed going out together. As far as I was concerned it was just as friends. Though I wasn’t sure exactly what we were doing. Justin just said it was a birthday surprise.“Its two friends hanging out.” I responded. She looked at me. &l
~CARLY AND JUSTIN~Justin rushed through the crowds of teens pooling into the lunchroom. He was chasing one particular person down, and wanted to get to her before she reached their lunch table. He reached out and touched Carly’s shoulder, pulling her back.“Hey,” she said with a slight chuckle, his force a bit surprising. The last time she was grabbed like that, James was the one with the force. She was able to push the thought away from her mind rather quick. “What’s going on?” He seemed eager.“What do you think I should get Kahlan for her birthday?” That wasn’t a question she thought he’d ask.“Well, what do you think she wants?” She questioned, “besides you naked in a bow?”
~BROOKE AND SANDINO~ Brooke knocked on Sandino’s door. She had heard that he didn’t go to school, and figured now would be the best time to go over, since his mother would be at work. Dino opened the door, looking at her through the screen."What do you want?" he asked. She looked. So far, this was going better than expected. She didn’t even think that he would open the door, let alone speak to her."Just to talk.""I don’t want to talk. Not to you anyway.” He looked as if he had been sleeping the day away, hiding from the embarrassment that she caused."I don’t want you to hate me," she spoke out. Hate was a strong word, but if anyone was going to
~KAHLAN AND JUSTIN~ I stood at my locker, putting away my books when Justin walked up to me. I could feel his presence before I saw her. He stood behind me."Hey," he said. I turned around to look at him. We hadn't talked since what happened in my pool, and since I blurted all my thoughts and feelings at the lunch table. It seemed that our time had now come. I was ready to talk to him and it seemed that he was ready to talk to me."Hi," I said quietly."How are you?" he asked."I'm good," I answered, "You?""Not so much," He responded, putting his hands into his pockets. I looked at him. He did look a mess, as if he were losing sleep